Women all around the world are more empathetic than men, study shows

Women are more empathetic towards other people than anyone around the world, and we already knew this, but now this can be backed by a study too. According to a study published by researchers from the University of Cambridge in the UK, women are better at empathising with other people than men. It is the largest of its kind study ever to date in a particular form of empathy, called "cognitive empathy" or as scientists like to call it, "theory of mind".

What is cognitive empathy?

When comes to empathy, is one of the most important qualities that describe a person's behaviour toward others in the social world. Empathy makes a person much more receptive to the emotions of the world, to understand or feel what another person is experiencing by putting oneself in another person's position. Empathy can be on different levels, social, emotional, spiritual or cognitive.

Add WION as a Preferred Source

Also Read |Iran now has around 100 active Starlinks, claims Elon Musk

Cognitive empathy is the capacity of a person to understand another's perspective or mental state, like what one might be thinking or feeling. A person who has cognitive empathy is not only able to feel other person's feelings but can also use that knowledge to predict how the person will react going forward. This ability is almost a gift for humans which can help them make better relations with people around them in the social structure of life.

How cognitive empathy is different from emotional empathy?

Emotional or affective empathy is when a person feels another person's emotions and responds with an appropriate reaction or emotion. For example, if a person sees another person begging on the road, they will start to feel sad and feel compassion for that person and pay him some bucks as a result. This kind of empathy is even seen in infants, when they see adults around them in distress they also try to express their distress in one or another.

"Reading the Mind in the Eyes test"

The University of Cambridge tested both kinds of empathy, emotional and cognitive, using a different kind of test called, "Reading the Mind in the Eyes Test" or simply the "Eyes Test", which helps measure a person's ability to recognise another person's mental state or emotions.

Also Read |WHAT! Santa Claus is buried in Turkey? Scientists might finally have solved the centuries-old mystery

The test requires participants to examine photographs of the area around a person's eyes. The person is making a specific facial expression, and the study participant must choose what that person is thinking or feeling from a list of options. This test is frequently used by scientists to determine whether or not someone has mental or cognitive issues. People with autism, for example, frequently score lower on these tests, as do people with dementia and people with eating disorders, among others, according to previous research.

How the data was collected for this study?

Data was collected from teams all over the world to see if cultural differences affected empathy scores. The study's authors worked at Cambridge University and Harvard University in the United States, Bar-Ilan University and Haifa University in Israel, and the IMT School for Advanced Studies Lucca in Italy. The authors of the study were able to gather results from nearly 306,000 people from 57 countries, including Argentina, Croatia, Egypt, India, Japan, and Norway, by combining their results with large samples from different online platforms.

What do the findings of this study imply?

Women scored significantly higher in cognitive empathy than men in 36 countries on average. Women and men scored equally in 21 of the countries. There was not a single country where men outperformed women on average. The findings were consistent across eight languages and across the lifespan, from 16 to 70 years old. Though scientists did see a decline in cognitive empathy as people grow older.

Also Read |China develops 'lobster eye' telescope to scan the murky depths of the universe

David M. Greenberg, a psychologist and researcher at Bar-Ilan University and Cambridge University, said, "That shallow decline in empathy raises some questions about what are the contributing factors that are at play".The study was unable to determine the cause of this decline. Greenberg speculated that it could be partly biological,perhaps there are hormonal changes in the body, or it could be a social or environmental factor. The study also couldn't explain why women had so much more cognitive empathy than men.

Why this study was important?

Understanding sex differences in empathy may enable researchers in understanding better why certain mental health problems affect men more than women. According to the researchers, this latest study could also help scientists develop better support for people who struggle to read facial expressions.

The co-author of the study Carrie Allison, who is also the directorof applied research at the Autism Research Centre at Cambridge University, said in a news release, "This study clearly demonstrates a largely consistent sex difference across countries, languages, and ages.This raises new questions for future research about the social and biological factors that may contribute to the observed on-average sex difference in cognitive empathy".

WATCH WION LIVE HERE

You can now write for wionews.com and be a part of the community. Share your stories and opinions with us here.